Research from Thistle Hotels has shown that almost half of hotel staying Brits have requested to change their room (48%). Four in ten of us admit we feel ‘anxious’ about our hotel room even before we arrive – and one in five couples admit that poor choice has spoilt their first night away, ending up in a row. If we could, nearly ninety per cent of us (88%) would choose our own room if we could.
‘Choose Your Own Room’ Service
As a result, Thistle is sparing us the embarrassment of ‘causing a fuss’ with the world’s first ever ‘Choose Your Own Room’ Service live at its Euston hotel.
Thistle launched free, fast and unlimited Wi-Fi across its hotels earlier this year and is now unveiling a fast, free online service which allows guests to take a 360° virtual tour and features photographs of the actual bedroom they will be staying in this winter. Guests will even be able to see the view they will be waking up to before they arrive.
Thistle is confident the discreet new service will save guests embarrassment on business or pleasure. Nearly a third of us who’ve stayed in a hotel on business admit to having a ‘quiet word’ with check-in staff to get away from colleagues.
Putting guests in control
Says David Grosfils, Chief Operating Officer from Thistle Hotels: “We know Brits hate to complain, so concerns about causing a fuss if we don’t like the room we’re allocated really can spoil a stay for many. Guests often opt to stay in the same bedroom if they’ve stayed with us before, so we’re simply putting them in control by inviting guests who book direct on thistle.com to use the ‘Choose Your Own Room’ service. Our ambition is that all Thistle hotels across the UK will have the CYOR service and we are working on rolling this out now.”
Helping guests to relax
Behavioural Psychologist Jo Hemmings said: “Complaining really isn’t in our national psyche so the anticipation of not liking our room, or even worse, it not meeting our partner’s expectations really can make Britons feel anxious and out of control – particularly when they are outside familiar surroundings and away from home. Airlines have long put us in control before check in by letting us choose our own seats, so if we are staying the night somewhere, a system where travellers can really visualise where they’ll be waking up is a big move forward which should help combat first night nerves and help many relax into their trip without being worried about a row.”
About Thistle
Thistle is part of glh., the largest owner-operator hotel company in London with over 4,000 hotel rooms and over 10% of the fully functioning London hotel rooms. In total glh. has 8,279 bedrooms and 337 meeting rooms across 36 Hotels in the UK. Last year glh. announced two new brands – Clermont (5*) and Amba (4*) – as well as two new significant hotels in Malaysia and Singapore.
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